Selling books to local used book store

Hello,
I'd like to know your experiece in selling your used books to
your local book stores. (I am in Ann Arbor, MI).
There's a couple of store that I can take and see if they would take
any.
Is there some rough guideline as to what I can expect to get for
books?
I have A LOT of books (mostly military history and foreign travel)
I would just like to know if that would be my best choice or
perhaps selling on amazon.com would be a better choice.

THANK YOU.

On 2005-02-13, Telford wrote:
I have A LOT of books (mostly military history and foreign travel)
I would just like to know if that would be my best choice or
perhaps selling on amazon.com would be a better choice.

It's a time vs money tradeoff. I think you would do a lot
better with specialized materials selling to a specialist
than a general dealer.

--
Jonathan Grobe Books
Browse our inventory of thousands of used books at:
http://www.grobebooks.com

I am in no way an experienced collector and whatnot, but I found a great
book called "Book Finds: How to Find, Buy, and Sell Used and Rare Books" by
Ian C. Ellis. It's a really good reference book and it covers a lot about
how to buy and sell to used bookstores. Good luck.

Ellis has a nice book. Pick it up and read it if you want to know some
basics in dealing in books. Ok, on to your question: Every shop and
town are different when it comes to trade/selling books. One thing
they all will do however, is they will want to see the books and handle
them themselves. What I'm really saying is a phone call similar to
"Hi, I have some old books I want you to pay me for. How much can you
give me?" will not be productive. Even a very polite call won't get
you far. Unless you have a large collection (500+), expect to go to
them when they are open. Some will offer you cash outright for
everything, or a few, others will only offer in-store credit. Some
will offer both. I know of one shop where there is a huge "genus"
system to your credit that is quite confusing. Some will kindly
explain the why's and where-for's of what they will buy and not, others
will mock you outright. Shake the dust from your feet when you leave.
The book-gods will smite them, bumping all the corners of their books.
Being that I havn't seen your books or sold any to dealers in Ann
Arbor, I can't offer you more than that. Part 2: Selling on Amazon is
easier than degrading into mother insults in a booksellers usenet
group. Search for your book (using ISBN or author/title), hit "sell my
copy" (or whatever) and *BAM* you're in business. For everyone's sake,
use all the space in describing the book they give you. If the Dust
Jacket is missing, or torn, Joe Goonalheimer (previous owner) wrote his
name in it, etc. Think of it as filling the space you're paying
for(believe me, you are!). What's nice on Amazon is that you don't pay
anything until a book sells. As pointed out earlier, you could have 2
choices (depending on your books): Do you want more $ or fast $?

blc

--Quote
Hello,
I'd like to know your experiece in selling your used books to
your local book stores. (I am in Ann Arbor, MI).
There's a couple of store that I can take and see if they would take
any.
Is there some rough guideline as to what I can expect to get for
books?
I have A LOT of books (mostly military history and foreign travel)
I would just like to know if that would be my best choice or
perhaps selling on amazon.com would be a better choice.
-- End Quote

Military history and foreign travel are good subject areas to sell in
on Ebay (and I expect everywhere else as well) particularly if they are
not new. Depending upon the age, quantity and condition of your books
you would likely do best selling yourself on the Internet, (Ebay, or a
low fee book site like Biblio) with second choice a specialist
bookdealer. Selling rarities on Ebay can be a gamble.

The difference you might expect between selling yourself and selling to
a specialist bookdealer is impossible to assess without detailed
information on your books. Selling yourself takes time and effort.

Selling on Amazon works best when you have books from the last thirty
years with ISBN's.